Efforts to produce more stable and defined vaccines have concentrated on studying, in detail, the immune response to many infectious diseases in order to identify the antigenic sites on the pathogens that are involved in stimulating protective immumty. Armed with this knowledge, it is poss ...
The first step in preparing useful monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) is to immunize an animal with an appropriate “vaccine.” Animal and vaccine are both emphasized in the preceding sentence because this chapter describes how to generate satisfactory MAbs by maximizing interactions betw ...
Receptor-ligand interactions have been extensively used to establish the specificity and binding profiles for chemokine receptors and their ligands. Furthermore, receptor-ligand binding assays are used extensively for drug screening. The Scintillation Proximity Assay ...
The Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a form of lung injury characterized by the rapid onset of severe hypoxemia and diffuse pulmonary infiltrates, with normal cardiac filling pressures (1). The pathology of ARDS includes striking injury to the alveolar epithelium, and the ac ...
Mast cells are important cells of the immune system, and their secretory products regulate many vascular functions. Although considerable interest is focused on the role of mast cells and infectious agents in atherosclerosis, whether or not mast cell mediators act in concert with bacter ...
The introduction of genetic material into tissue of interest remains a ratelimiting step for molecular investigations in many fields. Many different methods have been developed for the delivery of a gene in vivo, such as virus-, cationic liposome-, and particle-mediated gene transfer or d ...
Antibody has become a major category of therapeutics. However, IgG, the primary molecular format of existing antibody drugs, has some major shortcomings such as undesirable pharmacokinetics, high dose requirement, and high production cost, partially due to its large molecular size. M ...
Dendritic cells (DC) are widely regarded as the most potent cellular inducers of the adaptive immune response; so, immunotherapy through DC manipulation is a promising option in the future fight against many human ailments. We have developed a method of isolating DC from the mouse that involves ...
Natural killer (NK) cells were originally defined as mediators of spontaneous cytotoxicity against virus-infected and tumor cells. In human peripheral blood, the majority of NK cells can mediate cell lysis mainly through perforin and granzymes. It has been recently shown, however, that ...
Typical assays for natural killer (NK) cell function assess the responses of entire NK cell populations. It is now possible to determine the responses of individual NK cells. Herein, two representative assays are described along with examples of how they have helped clarify current underst ...
Eosinophils are multifunctional leukocytes classically described as being involved in helminth parasitic infections and allergic diseases. Previously restricted to an exclusive role in the release of cytotoxic mediators, they are now also considered to be immunoregulatory ...
Mast cells are cells of the innate immune system whose biological responses are markedly modulated by effector molecules of adaptive immunity, i.e., antibodies. They thus contribute to anti-infectious defense but also to antibody-dependent inflammatory responses. They are espec ...
Dendritic cells (DCs) are crucial in adaptive immunity because they are the only antigen-presenting cells that can present antigens to naive T lymphocytes. Plasmacytoid DCs (pDC) are also the main producers of type I Interferons in response to infection. We have shown that circulating myel ...
In this chapter, we describe current protocols used for the characterization of macrophages (MΦ) in mouse tissues and in cell suspensions from spleen and lymph nodes. Also, we include a brief description of a complementary approach: culture of primary MΦ. Although culture MΦ are extremely use ...
Gene transfer into mammalian cells has been of crucial importance for studies determining the role of specific genes in the differentiation and cell fate of various hematopoietic lineages. Until recently, the majority of these studies were performed in transformed cell lines due to diff ...
Natural killer (NK) cells are major actors of innate immune responses against viruses, bacteria, parasites, and other mediators of pathology such as malignant transformation. These cells are also directly implicated in the link between innate and adaptive immunity, shaping T-cell re ...
Forward genetics has led to many “breakthrough” discoveries, and with the mouse genome almost fully sequenced, the creation of phenotypes through random germline mutagenesis has become an efficient means by which to find the function of yet undescribed genes. In this chapter, we will provi ...
The interaction of an organism with surrounding microbial communities has a profound impact on its anatomy, physiology, and behavior. The innate immune system plays a major role in the crosstalk between bacteria and the hosts they colonize. Axenic mice provide a powerful in vivo controlled m ...
Anopheles mosquitoes are the major vectors of human malaria parasites. Mosquito–parasite interactions are critical for disease transmission and therefore represent a potential target for malaria control strategies. Mosquitoes mount potent antiparasitic responses, and ...
Among vertebrate model species, the zebrafish embryo combines at an unprecedented level optical accessibility with easy genetic manipulation. As such, it is gaining recognition as a powerful model to study innate immunity. In this chapter, we provide a protocol for the generation of zebr ...
